What a pompous ass!

Dr. Ben Carson was interviewed by Tom Ashbrook on On Point and it was not a pleasant occurrence.  I was totally unfamiliar with him as I have read none of his books or have I ever heard him speak. Let us hope that he is a better neurosurgeon than he comes across as a human being.
Maybe he was just having a bad day but if he is what he sounded like, what an egotist!

Magical Journey by Katrina Kenison

Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison

Once you reach a certain age, you realize the impermanence of things and life and people. You wonder if the path you've trod has had any meaning or purpose. You wonder about the connectedness of it all. At least, I have and so has Katrina Kenison. Her book was written about the time in her life when her children were stepping out into the world on their own and the time when a dear friend had succumbed to cancer. I've been there and probably most of us have. How she explores this time of change is the subject of this book. I don't think she would mind if I cut to the core and tell you what she found as a friend had told her when she started on this journey: It's all about love. Good book, a bit wordy, but still good. 

Meditation

Bring the whole of your life under the ordering of the spirit of Christ. Are you open to the healing power of God’s love? Cherish that of God within you, so that this love may grow in you and guide you. Let your worship and your daily life enrich each other. Treasure your experience of God, however it comes to you. Remember that Christianity is not a notion but a way. 

Quaker Advices and Queries

Goals for Next Week

Goals for the week ending Saturday, March 2, 2013

1.  Continue daily Bible reading--done. 

2. Continue cutting out next quilt top using leftover fabric--done. 

3. Continue Weight Watchers 26 points per day--done. 

4. Border #7/8 on quilt--done. 

 5. Keep seedlings watered & put them out in sunshine--done. But it was too cold and windy to put them outside. 

6. Reading--done. 

     The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

     Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison--Finished. 

     For Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner

     Watchers of Time by Charles Todd

7. Cook 4 dinners--done. 

8. Laundry room

     Schedule tile installation--done. Tile will be installed Monday.

     Paint wall--to be done Saturday & Sunday when JMM will move the washer & drier. 

     Measure and order blinds--not done yet. 

     What to hang on wall--looking; not decided yet. 

9. Make appointment to get estimate on clock repair--not done. 

10. Check Hobby Lobby for quilt fabric--not done. 

11. Medical Bridges Tuesday, February 26, 2013--not done. 

12. MD appt. Monday, February 25, 2013--done. Got Rx for rosacea.

The Serenity Prayer as Foreign Policy

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Most of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer but I'd never thought of it as a kind of guide to foreign policy until I read blog post by Rod Dreher.  Here's the link to the entire post:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-serenity-prayer-as-a-guide-to-national-security-policy/

With turmoil everywhere from Mali to Syria to Iraq and Nigeria, the United States can't solve everyone's problems.  Some how we must determine what we can do and what we cannot do. With the instant 24/7 communications that we have today, it is hard to turn away from the vast amount of suffering in the world today. I think the first step is simply not to make a bad situation worse. Then to realistically determine if we can make the situation better and if so, we need to count the cost before we go plunging in.  (We could certainly have avoided a world of hurt if we had applied this to Iraq but we all know my soapbox on Iraq,...)

Meditation

Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God whose Light shows us our darkness and brings us to new life.

Advices and Queries

Goals for Next Week

Goals for the week ending Saturday, February 23, 2013

1.  Continue daily Bible reading--done. 

2. Continue cutting out next quilt top using leftover fabric--done. 

3. Continue Weight Watchers 26 points per day--done. 

4. Border #6/8 on quilt--done. 

 5. Keep seedlings watered & Plant Mexican Sunflowers & Black-eyed Susans--done. 

6. Reading--done. 

     The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

     My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor--Finished. Excellent!

     Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison

     For Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner

     Watchers of Time by Charles Todd

7. Cook 4 dinners--done. 

8. Laundry room

     Price tile and installation--done. 

     Buy tile and paint--done. 

     What to hang on wall--not done. Next week. 

9. Make appointment to get estimate on clock repair--not done. Next week. 

10. Check Hobby Lobby for quilt fabric--not done. Next week. 

And Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-Umunna

And Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-Umunna

In 1990, Liberia plunged into the hell of 14 years of civil war. The war scarred every living soul in the country. Atrocities were committed by all sides and perhaps the worst atrocities of all were done by and to the children who were kidnapped, drugged, and forced to become child soldiers. 

Eventually, the war ended with the country ravaged and the population decimated, mutilated, and devastated.  How does one pick up a life and go on when so many atrocities have been committed by your next door neighbor or by their child?

In And Still Peace Did Not Come Agnes Kamara-Umunna tells how after the war was over and the fighting ceased, peace still did not come. It could not come until some how reconciliation could begin. Modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation Council set up following apartheid in South Africa, the TRC in Liberia began taking statements from Liberian citizens.  For people to live together without falling into an endless cycle of revenge, truth must be told by both victims and perpetrators and the work of reconciliation begun. So much easier said than done. 

Agnes Kamara-Umunna hosted a radio program straight from the Heart which allowed people to tell their story. Early on she discovered that the former child soldiers were virtual untouchables. They either had no family left or had been rejected by their family or their community. They were now living on the streets with no home, food, school, or friend and many were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Agnes began to help them with food and shelter. She brought them onto the radio program so that the population could see that they were children and were every bit as much victims as they had been perpetrators.

The book is well written and conveys the horrors of what happened without descending into ghoulishness. The work of building peace through telling the truth and beginning reconciliation is well expressed. It gives both a vivid picture of both the horrors that humans can inflict on one another and the hope that peace can come through truth and reconciliation. 

Meditation

“When I look back upon my early days I am stirred by the thought of the number of people whom I have to thank for what they gave me or for what they were to me. At the same time I am haunted by an oppressive consciousness of the little gratitude I really showed them while I was young. How many of them have said farewell to life without having made clear to them what it meant to me to receive from them so much kindness or so much care! Many a time have I, with a feeling of shame, said quietly to myself over a grave the words which my mouth ought to have spoken to the departed, while he was still in the flesh.” 

― Albert Schweitzer

Goals for Next Week

Goals for the week ending Saturday, February 16, 2013

1.  Continue daily Bible reading--done.

2. Continue cutting out next quilt top using leftover fabric--done

3. Continue Weight Watchers 26 points per day--done.

4. Border #5/8 on quilt--done.

 5. Keep seedlings watered &  Replant Black-Eyed Susans. --done.

6. Reading

     The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

     And Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-Umunna--Finished.

     Son by Lois Lowry--Finished.

     Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Karina Kenison

     For Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner 

7. Cook 4 dinners--done.

8. Laundry room

     Price tile and installation--in progress.

     Decide on paint color--done.

     What to hang on wall--in progress.

9. Make appointment to get estimate on clock repair--not done.

10. Valentine's Day--not done.

     Cards

     Cupcakes

Sequestration

If the budget is to be cut, sequestration may be the best/only way to cut it.  I am not totally convinced that now is the best time for budget cutting but then there never seems to be a good time.  The reason I think it may be the best/only way to go rather than selectively cutting is that no matter what is chosen to be selectively cut, there will be a  lobby crying that their area is absolutely necessary to the safety and well-being of the nation. Or sometimes the cry will be that their cuts will not make a significant cut in the budget anyway so we might as well leave them alone.

I think JMM and I will weather it without any undue hardship--we will have a home, good food to eat, medical care when needed, and heat in the winter. This is unfortunately far from universal and it will be the people who can afford it the least who will bear the brunt of it.  It beats me to know if there is anything I can do about it though other than taking care of my family and reaching out to help where I can.  Contacting my Representative is a non-starter because Pete Olson is about the worst of the worst and we share a mutual loathing. So we carry on doing what we can.

President Obama has offered a package that will forestall the full effect of the sequestration. He is such a good person and President; he is truly trying to do the right thing for the country with absolutely no cooperation from the Republican Party of Obstruction. Please let us try to take back the House in 2014!

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

The story of my life by Helen Keller

A triumph of the human spirit when someone who is both blind and deaf can describe their life in joyful detail.  

Her family must have been wealthy to have afforded the doctors and trips and their mountain summer home. I wonder if children of lesser means would have the opportunities for growth that Helen did. I wonder if she realized how fortunate she was to have the wherewithal to be educated, travel, and experience so much. 

Her sensitive nature and the honing of her remaining senses help her with her desire to experience the things that she cannot see or hear. The trip to Niagra falls impressed her in ways that she could not easily explain any more than one could explain love or goodness. 

How I agree with her about learning and college. She says "we should take our education as we would take a walk in the country, leisurely, our minds hospitably open..."

And of college, "one goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think."

One more quote on education, "Those dreadful pitfalls called examinations set by schools and colleges for the confusion of those who seek after knowledge."

It seems odd, in our age of ugly, to hear her rhapsodize about beauty and graciousness, of truth and nobility, and discourse on literature among friends. Obviously, Helen never had the opportunity to watch reality television.

A truly amazing and inspiring life.

Potato-Leek Soup

This morning I got dinner going before 9am.  This is the recipe for my old stand-by Potato-Leek soup.

Potato-Leek Soup

(Crock Pot)

 

4 cups diced potatoes

3 cups thinly sliced leeks

2 cans chicken broth

8-10 slices bacon cut in ½ inch pieces, cooked and drained

1 cup evaporated milk

salt & pepper to taste

shredded cheese (Optional)

 

Combine first 4 ingredients in Crock Pot and cook on low for 8- 10 hours. Add evaporated milk and adjust seasonings during last 30 minutes cooking. Puree about 2/3 and add back into the remaining soup stir.  Top with cheese if desired.

Goals for Next Week

Goals for the week ending Saturday, February 9, 2013

1.  Continue daily Bible reading--done. 

2. Continue cutting out next quilt top using leftover fabric--done. 

3. Continue Weight Watchers 26 points per day--done. 

4. Border #4/8 on quilt--done. 

 5. Keep seedlings watered--done. Everything is up except the Black-eyed Susan. None of those came up. Will replant fresh seeds. 

6. Reading--done. 

     The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

     And Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-Umunna

     The Story of My Life by Helen Keller--Finished. 

     Legacy of the Dead by Charles Todd--Finished. 

7. Cook 4 dinners--done. 

10. Paint first wall in living room--DONE !! FINALLY!!